amine any other sort of
hinges, sir?" he continued.

"Hain't I seen all yeou hev?"

"O, no; here we have another variety of hinges, steel, copper, plated,
&c. These are fine for parlor doors, &c.," said the clerk.

"E' yes them air nice, I swow, mister; look like rale silver. I 'spect
them cost somethin'?"

"They come rather high," said the clerk, "but we've got them as low as
you can buy them in the market."

"I want to know!" quietly echoes the Yankee.

"Yes, sir; what do you wish to use them for?" says the clerk.

"Use 'em?" responded the Yankee.

"Yes; what _priced_ hinges did you require?"

"What priced hinges?--"

"Exactly! Tell me what you require them _for_, and I can soon come at
the _sort_ of hinges you require," said the clerk, making an effort to
come to a climax.

"Who said _I_ wanted any hinges?"

"Who said you wanted any? Why, don't you want to buy hinges?"

"Buy hinges? Why, _no;_ I don't want nothin'; _I only came in to look
areound!_"

Having looked around, the imperturbable Yankee stepped out, leaving the
poor clerk--quite flabbergasted!

Miseries of Bachelorhood.

Dabster says he would not mind living as a bachelor, but when he comes
to think that bachelors must die--that they have got to go down to the
grave "without any body to cry for them"--it gives him a chill that
frost-bites his philosophy. Dabster was seen on Tuesday evening, going
convoy to a milliner. Putting this fact to the other, and we think we
"smell something," as the fellow said when his shirt took fire.

The Science of "Diddling."

Jeremy Diddlers have existed from time immemorial down, as traces of
them are found in all ancient and modern history, from the Bible to
Shakspeare, from Shakspeare to the revelations of George Gordon Byron,
who strutted his brief hour, acted his part, and--vanished. Diddler is
derived from the word _diddle_, to _do_--every body who has not yet made
his debut to the Elephant. We believe the word has escaped the attention
of the ancient lexicographers, and even Worcester, and the still more
durable "Webster," have no note of the word, its derivation, or present
sense.

A "Jeremy Diddler" is, in _fact_, one of your first-class vagabonds; a
fellow who has been spoiled by indulgent parents, while they were in
easy circumstances. Trained up to despise labor, not capacitated by
nature or inclination to pass current in a profession, he finds himself
at twenty possessed o